On September 4, 1998 (a day that shall live in infamy) I was racing my Alfa
at Lime Rock.
At the end of the straight-away, I intended to go from 5th to 3rd, but
somehow
managed to smoothly shift into 1st. The results were quite spectacular, I
broke the bell housing and blew the starter motor out onto the track
surface. I later discovered that I had also destroyed the bolt holes of the
aluminum flywheel and the bolt end of the crank.
The friendly gang at Alfa's Unlimited patched things up and I somehow got
through both the Lime Rock and Watkins Glen weekends. But at Coronado, all
hell broke loose. Thank God for my scatter shield, what a mess. We insist on
fire systems and seatbelts - a scatter shield should be next on the list.
Don (I'm getting too old for this shit) Queen
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Warner" <Jeff_Warner@ssa-sa.sel.sony.com>
To: <vintage-race@autox.team.net>; <carlynneracing@home.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2001 8:06 AM
Subject: Re: Scatter Shields for Alpines ...now flywheels or gear box?
> Hi,
>
> I bought a scatter shield type transmission blanket that I believe was
originally used on racing automatic transmissions. It is a 60" long by 14"
wide blanket with straps and tabs to bolt down. I was planning to use it on
a original 35 year old Jaguar all synchro 4 speed manual transmission...
wrapping it around the GEAR BOX.
>
> Your story indicates it is the FLYWHEEL/BELL HOUSING I should worry about.
>
> In an attempt to collect a form of "data" as I am a complete novice to
racing:
> WHICH IS MORE OF THE THREAT BASED ON YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE OR KNOWLEDGE....
THE FLYWHEEL OR THE GEAR BOX?
>
> In other words, are there more stories of flywheels turning into frisbees,
or gear boxes turning into shrapnel?
>
> Thanks,
> Jeff Warner
> San Antonio, Texas
> Jaguar Mk2s
> CVAR
>
>
> >>> "Carl McLelland" <carlynneracing@home.com> 3/28/01 2:16:41 AM >>>
> To all "Alpiner's", and all vintage racers, regardless of what you
> race!!
>
> Last Sunday I was entering turn 10 at Sears Point, 2nd lap of practice
> so I wasn't really up to speed yet, when I had a potentially life
> threatening event occur. I had backed off momentarily to set the car
> for the corner and when I came back on the power had the
> flywheel/crankshaft bolts shear. I was turning 6000rpm in fourth at
> the time..... a couple laps later and I would have been somewhere
> between 6000 and 7000.
>
> The engine went "instantly" to 9000rpm before I could (1) get my foot
> off the "enthusiasm" and (2) shut off the fuel pump and ignition.
> Somewhere between 6000 and 9000 the flywheel came off the crank flange
> and started trying to grind itself out of the bell housing!
> Fortunately for me, it wasn't successful. What am I leading up to?
>
> 1. I made a steel scatter shield some time back, which may have saved
> me had the flywheel come through the bell housing (or had the flywheel
> exploded). If you haven't done something to protect yourself, DO IT!
>
> 2. For you Alpiners, a friend of mine, having seen the photo's, is
> dedicating himself to making some carbon fibre scatter shields that
> will be bonded to the aluminum bell housing. This should add 3-4
> pounds to the weight of the car, which is negligible. He presently has
> 10 bell housings, so they would be a manditory exchange (or I'm sure
> he could make a scatter shield for your bell housing if you sent it
> to him). Anyone who is interested in more detail of what happened, or
> wants to see the photo's, (or just wants to tell me what a supurb
> driver I am), please respond off-net and I'll forward the photo's.
>
> I don't have a price for the carbon fibre bell housings yet, but you
> can rest assured ones going to be installed on my car, in addition to
> the steel one!!
> Carl McLelland
> CSRG #247 series 1 Sunbeam Alpine
> CarLynne Racing LLC
> carlynneracing@home.com
> http://carlynneracing.homestead.com/home.html
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